Brett Raguse (Forde, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I rise to raise a number of concerns I have about planning within the electorate of Forde. You might have heard the speeches I have made in this and the other chamber about the rollout of infrastructure and about how this government has committed to major infrastructure investment. How we implement the rollout of infrastructure on the ground will be interesting. I will give you some examples of why I have concerns about this. South-East Queensland has been undergoing massive growth. Each week there have been 1,500 people net coming across the border from other states. That is the net migration into South-East Queensland. In fact, it almost appears that people come over the border to South-East Queensland, put down their cases, look around and say, ‘This is a nice place to stay.’ Essentially, that has been very good for the economy for a whole range of reasons, but it has put enormous pressures on everything else.

People would be aware of the drought conditions in Queensland. While those drought conditions are very much a part of our concerns about climate change and rainfall generally around this country, the issue for South-East Queensland is that our population has been growing at a massive rate. In fact, just over two years ago the Queensland population hit the four million mark. When you leave the Brisbane airport, which I do on a regular basis, you will see the counter that continually counts the increase in population. Two years ago it was four million. Today the figure is about 4.3 million. In just two years 300,000 more people have made Queensland their home. As I said, that population increase puts enormous pressure on general infrastructure. Water particularly has been of great concern. At one stage the combined total of the dams in South-East Queensland was about 30 per cent. With no likelihood of rain during our dry period, that was of major concern.

We hear quite often the opposition, particularly opposition members from Queensland, bagging the government in Queensland—under Beattie and more recently under Bligh—for its spend on infrastructure. It is a commitment that governments have to make. It is not popular for governments to take on large amounts of debt to fund infrastructure, but we in the Rudd government understand the importance of doing that. South-East Queensland and Queensland generally have benefited from the building of infrastructure. The water pipeline which is now complete connects those dams to each other and the availability of water has increased to over 42 per cent. That figure is still critical in terms of the needs of South-East Queensland, but given that we are moving into what is normally our wet season we will probably be better served by the end of that.

But water is only one thing. Look at the effect of population growth on the roads and the road network. Anyone travelling from the airport to any part of Brisbane or towards the Gold Coast frequently gets involved in traffic jams. Only two years ago the capacity of those roads was quite good. There was a difference between the Gold Coast and the Brisbane Airport of maybe an hour and a quarter. That can be three hours now. It is a case of the overloading of our roads and the ability of governments to churn out and build infrastructure as quickly as it can. The Bligh government in Queensland has committed to that. I applaud the fact that those decisions have been made, but the building of that infrastructure puts enormous pressure on the implementation stage.

I will go back to the notion of planning. Good town planning is essential. We all understand that. Town planning is sophisticated today, given that we also look at sustainability and at how we develop in a sustainable way. The reality is that the demand on planning services in Queensland is also very high. In fact, we have such a shortage of planners in Queensland that they are coming not only from other states but where possible from other countries. They are coming in under 457 visas, which give us the opportunity to bring in people with a particular skill. You have to have planning in place before you start to make decisions about rolling out infrastructure.

Going back to my electorate of Forde, I have spoken many times in this House about the fact that we have no infrastructure of any note. It covers 3,100 square kilometres. It is not a large seat by rural standards, but given that it is Gold Coast hinterland and it sits behind three federal seats, each of which averages 70 or 80 square kilometres, it covers quite a large lump of ground. Because of the regional and rural nature of the electorate and also the high-density urban nature of some of the northern end of the electorate, we simply do not have the adequate road infrastructure or transport structures, and our water infrastructure is also poor. In fact, most of the people who live in the former Beaudesert Shire Council, which is now known as the Scenic Rim Regional Council, are on tank water. There is nothing wrong with tank water if it is provided and delivered the right way, but those communities live on tank water simply because they do not have any other options. It all comes back to the need for adequate planning. The concern that I have is that, if we do not look at how we are going to put more planners on the ground, particularly in an area like South-East Queensland and my electorate of Forde, we are going to have many hold-ups when it comes to delivering that infrastructure.

I note that as a federal government we have made road infrastructure commitments in Queensland in particular, and certainly the member for Petrie, who is sitting next to me, has had some commitments in her electorate. While those construction projects have been planned in the past and can go ahead, we are in a dilemma in South-East Queensland right now about getting people to plan in a sustainable way to prepare us for the future. Tamborine Mountain is in my electorate and is serviced by tank water. There is no reticulation of water and there are 8,000 in that community. While the general community are comfortable, there are instances of giardia and other problems with the groundwater, so it is something that has to be managed very well.

An issue for Tamborine Mountain that people have raised with me recently is that a drug rehabilitation centre is to be established there. We all understand the need for these sorts of services and we also understand the need to have them appropriately placed. This community on Tamborine Mountain have simply heard rumours that there is going to be a rehabilitation centre built within their community. There is no problem with those centres, but people on the ground want to have some understanding of what planning has occurred. When people buy into an area and make decisions about whether they stay there, move on, expand or renovate, they want to know what their community is going to be like. In the area I am talking about on Tamborine Mountain, people are outraged not because there is a centre proposed for the area but because they did not have the choice. Also, the planning did not adequately indicate that that sort of centre could be built within the region. It is something that I am continuing to work on. The Gold Coast rejected this centre so it is to be resited on Tamborine Mountain without appropriate planning, and communities are under pressure and are concerned. The central issue in planning is that the people who live in these communities have to have a say in how their communities are planned. If we are going to build infrastructure, we need to ensure that people are aware of the infrastructure, that they have some say in the way the infrastructure is provided and that they can say whether they want the type of infrastructure that is being proposed.

Those in this chamber have heard me talk about Duck Creek Road, the lodges at Binna Burra and O’Reilly’s guesthouse. They are in an area that has not been adequately planned and where people are having decisions made on their behalf. If you are going to build a community, communities need to be serviced by water, power, roads and public transport. We are in an age now where we are talking sustainability, global warming, climate change and the need to reduce our carbon footprint. Yet we are still not planning appropriately when it comes to our communities. Public transport without a doubt is the way for the future, and it does not matter whether or not you live in a high-density area. Although the numbers will say that that is where it is most appropriate and more affordable, the reality is that all our community development has to be considered with the issues of planning and sustainability in mind.

It is wonderful that the government at the federal level is making major decisions about infrastructure rollout, but the state and local governments need to get their acts together. I am hoping that, when the Australian Local Government Association meets with federal ministers, there will be some decisions about how this will all be coordinated on the ground. Without appropriate planning, sustainability and adequate services, communities will fall into disrepair. I am concerned that without those things the seat of Forde will not be well serviced.

Ms Anna Burke (Chisholm, Deputy-Speaker) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Order! The time for the grievance debate has expired. The debate is interrupted in accordance with standing order 192B. The debate is adjourned, and the resumption of the debate will be made an order of the day for the next sitting.